From yesterday, a new Australian domain extension, .au, is available for registration, allowing qualifying businesses to register ‘direct’ domain names for the first time.
What is the name of the new domain?
The new domain extension is just “.au,” which stands for Australia. The domain name “lawyers.au” is an example of an .au domain name.
An .au domain name provides a chance to abbreviate an existing domain name or to register a new domain name for the first time in the Australian domain name space. The following are some of the reasons to consider registering an .au domain name:
- In order to expand your firm’s presence.
- In order to make your domain name easier to read and remember, it should be simplified.
- In order to make your mobile domain name lookup more obvious.
- In order to guarantee that your existing domain name does not get registered with the new.au extension by another party.
When is it possible to register an .au domain?
The first round of applications for .au domain names commenced on 24 March 2022. Anyone who already has a domain name registered under the .com.au domain name will have six months from that date to register the comparable domain name under the .au domain name. The Priority Allocation period is six months in length, during which time the equivalent domain name (for example, lawyers.au) to your presently registered domain name (lawyers.com.au) will be reserved for you to register. After the Priority Allocation period expires, .au domains will be available for registration by anybody who meets the requirements. It is anticipated that reserved domains would be divided into two categories:
- Category 1 domains are those that were registered before to the 4th of February, 2018.
- Category 2 pertains to domains that were registered after the 4th of February, 2018.
For example, the domain name lawyers.com.au was registered before 2018, hence it comes under the Category 1 classification. Priority will be given to Category 1 domain proprietors when it comes to registering .au domain names, rather than Category 2 domain holders.
Requirements for Eligibility
.au domain names are intended for general use, which means that they can be registered by any individual or organisation as long as they fulfil the eligibility requirements set out in the .au Licensing Rules.
In contrast to existing.au domain extensions (.com.au, net.au, and so on), which are subject to strict allocation criteria, the new .au domain extension does not need to match the applicant’s name, trade mark, or a service, goods, event, activity, or premises provided by the applicant in order to be approved for registration.
There will be a dispute if two or more eligible parties apply to register the same new.au domain name at the same time. The Australian Domain Names Authority (auDA), which is in charge of domain name administration in Australia, is currently finalising the parameters of the dispute resolution procedure.
What Now?
You should now make contact with the domain company who currently holds your domain and take the steps to register the equivalent .au extension domain. The cost is insignificant at approximately $20 per year.
